Small practices are getting a second wind
Small practices are getting a second wind
Many in the medical community have written off solo practitioners, saying they were a relic of a different time. And except in the most remote areas, only by growing, merging, and affiliating with other physicians could they succeed in the 21st century.
But according to a new survey published by the Pensacola, FL-based Professional Association of Health Care Office Managers (PAHCOM), there is a growing number of practices with one to four physicians.
The results of the survey were published in a recent issue of Medical Office Management, the PAHCOM newsletter. In it, executive director Richard Blanchette states that there are now 116,137 solo practitioners, up 3.7% from 1996. (See table, below.)
Practices with one to four physicians increased 8.6 % over that same period, and the largest growth occurred in two physician practices, with 34,776 in March 1998, up 18.4% from 1996.
"Two years ago, I thought the decreases we had seen in small practices would reverse," Blanchette says in an interview with Practice Marketing and Management. "There were a lot of mergers in the 1950s and 1960s in the business world, and we saw those come apart in the 1980s. There was a lot of right sizing. I thought the same would happen in the medical profession."
That said, Blanchette still expresses surprise at the increase in solo practices. "I think it is probably former physician employees who get fed up, and when their contract expires with their employer, they are going out on their own."
PAHCOM's findings are supported by data recently released by Chicago-based SMG Marketing Group. According to SMG's research, about 63% of the nation's approximately 17,000 medical practices have fewer than five physicians. The survey found that 21% have between five and nine physicians, and only 16% have more than 10 physicians.
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